TAMPA, Fla. This Stanley Cup Final, as much as you can predict such things, seemed like it was going to be a close one, and Game 1 didn't make much of an argument against that po sibility.The Lightning came out of the first period dictating play with a 1-0 lead. The Blackhawks pushed back, taking control of shot attempts (45-35) and scoring chances (20-17, via ), and scoring .MORE: | | | Neither team played a complete game. The Blackhawks got away with it."Coming out of that first period (Wednesday), I don't want to overstate it or anything, but we knew going down 1-0 was a good situation for us concerning the fact it could have been worse," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said.The Lightning did not.
Seattle Seahawks Jersey "You wake up in the morning, you should be a little angry, a little pi sed off," Lightning forward Brian Boyle said.Saturday's Game 2 is in Tampa. TV: NBC in the United States, CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.If Lightning players don't want to wake up on Sunday pi sed off and down 2-0 here are a few things that must happen:Return of the Triplets: This is not meant to disparage Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. Heading into the series, they had combined for 28 of the Lightning's 55 playoff goals. Johnson leads the playoffs with 12. They can't score every game. Lightning coach Jon Cooper knows that better than anyone.MORE: | Five keys: | "It's a ma sive compliment when they get asked that question because that means they've scored so often and done so many good things," Cooper said. "The fact they don't do it once, it's alarming.""They've proven time and time again they may be kept off the scoresheet a game here, a game there, but you'
Tyler Lockett Jersey re not going to keep them off for long. Those kids will find a way."They must. No Lightning forward outside the top six has more than two points or positively impacts puck po se sion. Tampa Bay, more than Chicago, needs offense from its top guys.Good Bishop: Ben Bishop's postseason, in totality, has been fine a .919 save percentage is what it is. The problem for Bishop is where the .919 number came from. There are three five-goal games mixed in there from the Eastern Conference finals alone, and two other sub-.800 games from earlier in the playoffs. It's tough to know what Bishop will bring on a given night.Ironically, Bishop was solid on Wednesday. Not great, not terrible. Given how the Eastern Conference finals unfolded, that's a surprise and the Lightning are likely fine with it.All that zone
Darrell Taylor Jersey time Chicago generated didn't lead to a ton of quality shots; many of its 21 shots were from the perimeter. Bishop, for the most part, did well; of his 19 saves, via NHL.com, 14 were on clean shots. The goals he allowed were on a screen and
Sidney Jones IV Jersey a tip, and his rebound control was good.Hopefully for the Lightning, that's his low-water mark of the series; five-goal meltdowns against the Blackhawks aren't going to work.Paquette vs. "Captain Everything": We said earlier that the Lightning need offense from their top two lines. That's true, but it's also not meant to disparage the work of the other guys. Cedric Paquette, in particular, was impre sive in Game 1; he led a line that was matched up largely against Toews, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad.Cooper didn't tell Paquette he was drawing that matchup until immediately before the game."I don't want him thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm going to have to check Captain Everything,'" Cooper said.MORE: A couple hours later, the Blackhawks' first-line players Captain Everything included were minus-7 in even-strength shot attempts and had four scoring chances between them. That rarely happens.
Rashaad Penny Jersey If the Lightning can make a habit of that hoo, boy."Our thinking was if we can neutralize that line with (Paquette), (Ryan Callahan), and whether it be (J.T. Brown) or (Alex Killorn), whoever is out there, that's going to give our other guys hopefully a little bit better chance to score," Cooper said.Be themselves: The Lightning dug their way out of two previous Game 1 lo ses, including against the Rangers. That alone should stop them from freaking out. Both Cooper and Stamkos said thatwhen they reviewed the video, they saw more good than bad."We learned our le son pretty quick here. Like I said, we're not worried. We're excited about the fact that we did a lot of positive things," Stamkos said."That's something to build on. This is the two best teams in the league for a reason. We believe in ourselves."
